Hannezo Group

Physical Principles in Biological Systems

Edouard Hannezo is interested in understanding how cells “know” how to make the right decisions at the right time and at the right place during development and normal tissue homeostasis, as well as how these decisions are dysregulated during cancer initiation. Coming from a theoretical physics background, he uses methods ranging from mechanics and active hydrodynamics to population dynamics and statistical physics, both to develop new generic biophysical frameworks, as well as in the context of collaborations with developmental and stem cell biologists.

He is particularly interested in design principles and processes of self-organisation in biology, at various scales. Examples of problems he is working on, at three different scales, include: 1/ how do cytoskeletal elements, which generate forces within cells, self-organise to produce complex spatio-temporal patterns, 2/ how do cells concomitantly acquire identities and shape a tissue during development, and 3/ how does complex tissue architecture derive from simple self-organising principles, using branching morphogenesis as a prototypical example, and the framework of branching and annihilating random walks.

We are looking for motivated PhD students and postdocs, with a strong theoretical background, but also the curiosity and motivation to answer biological questions. Postdoc candidates should send their application including CV, and statement of motivation and research interests to edouard.hannezo@remove-this.ist.ac.at. PhD student candidates should apply directly at the IST Austria Graduate School.